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 My Jayanthi Akka- Anil SrinivasanMarch 17, 2026 (A special exclusive article for Narthaki by Pianist and Educator Anil Srinivasan on Jayanthi Kumaresh being selected for the SANGITA KALANIDHI title by Madras Music Academy.)  Jayanthi Kumaresh There are moments in the life of a musician when the world gets something exactly right. This is one of them. When I heard that Jayanthi Kumaresh had been chosen for the Sangita Kalanidhi - the highest honour our classical tradition bestows - I felt something that is hard to describe without sounding sentimental. It wasn't surprise. It was the deep satisfaction of the inevitable, finally arriving. I have had the privilege of working with Jayanthi akka across several contexts, and every encounter has left me changed - not dramatically, but in the quiet, accumulative way that real musical education works. She carries what I can only call a dual intelligence: a gentleness in the way she listens, and a fierce clarity in the way she thinks. She hears things others miss, and she names them with a precision that is almost disarming. That combination - soft in approach, sharp in insight - is rarer in the world of classical music than we like to admit.  With Jayanthi Kumaresh But what has stayed with me most is her generosity. She gives freely - of her time, her knowledge, her perspective - not in the performative way of the celebrated, but with genuine investment in the growth of others. That is, I think, the mark of the truly great: they are not diminished by sharing, they are enlarged by it. The fact that she presides over the Music Academy's 100th Annual Conference makes this even more fitting. A century of tradition, and she is the right person to hold that moment. The veena, in her hands, has always sounded like memory and discovery at once. Now the institution has recognised what many of us have known for a long time. Congratulations, Jayanthi akka. The Kalanidhi has found its keeper. Post your comments Please provide your name along with your comment. All appropriate comments posted with name in the blog will also be featured in the site. |
